Computational Commutative Algebra 1

Hofstadter’s Law: It always takes longer than you think it will take, even if you take into account Hofstadter’s Law. (Douglas R. Hofstadter) Dear Reader, what you are holding in your hands now is for youabook. But for us, for our families and friends, it has been known as the book over the last three years. Three years of intense work just to ?ll three centimeters of your bookshelf! This amounts to about one centimeter per year, or roughly two-?fths of an inch per year if you are non-metric. Clearly we had ample opportunity to experience the full force of Hofstadter’s Law. Writing a book about Computational Commutative Algebra is not - like computing a Gr¨ obner basis: you need unshakeable faith to believe that the project will ever end; likewise, you must trust in the Noetherianity of polynomial rings to believe that Buchberger’s Algorithm will ever terminate. Naturally, we hope that the ?nal result proves our e?orts worthwhile. This is a book for learning, teaching, reading, and, most of all, enjoying the topic at hand.